Better Pensions for More Workers

Ontario Liberals Will Work to Expand and Strengthen Private Sector Coverage

Thursday, May 24, 2018

TORONTO — Ontario Liberals will take concrete action to expand access to private sector employer-based pension plans, ensuring that workers in all sectors and all situations can look forward to a more secure retirement. Drawing on her record of fighting for and achieving a better retirement for everyone in Ontario and across Canada through an expanded Canada Pension Plan, Premier Kathleen Wynne is now building on that progress.

These new measures will expand coverage, improve portability of plans and create opt-in options for the self-employed and other workers. The Ontario Liberals will help ensure that pensioners are also better protected and receive greater priority in the event of a bankruptcy.

Premier Wynne was at Wattpad in Toronto today, where she met with young high-tech workers to hear from them how the changing nature of work makes access to pensions more challenging — and to discuss what can be done to fix it.

The retirement security that previous generations could count on is disappearing across North America. Workers of all ages and experience levels are concerned about how the many gaps in pension plan coverage mean they may not be able to afford to retire at all. Whether you work on contract, or you’re building a career at a start-up, or you’re changing jobs regularly, there are many reasons why you might not have access to a workplace pension plan, or why it might not be adding up the way you need it to.

A re-elected Ontario Liberal government will take steps to expand access to retirement savings opportunities so that more workers can take advantage of them.

For workers moving between jobs within the same field, we will support the creation of portable pension plans that stay with a worker from one job to the next. These plans could be sponsored by unions, associations, or multiple employers within a sector so that changing jobs wouldn’t have to mean losing your pension.

For workers seeking more or better coverage, we will use our regulatory and policy tools to remove barriers that prevent existing successful private sector pension plans from offering their services to more people and in new, more agile combinations.

For workers already enrolled in an existing plan, we will ensure that retirees receive the benefits that they are promised, including by strengthening the ability of the pension regulator to intervene in cases where pensioners are treated unfairly.

The Ontario Liberals are the only party with a plan to increase access to pensions, and the track record of improving pension policy for everyone. Neither the Doug Ford Conservatives nor the NDP have brought forward a detailed plan to help workers from different backgrounds retire with greater security.The Liberal plan also expands publicly funded prescription drugs to cover one-in-two people in Ontario, makes the largest mental health care investment in Canadian history, builds a record amount of transit, boosts hospital funding, helps more people go to college or university with publicly funded tuition and lets more parents go back to work by funding preschool child care from 2 ½ to kindergarten. Ontario’s economy is growing stronger, but that growth and the care and services it funds are at risk this election.

Quote

“Everyone hopes that — after decades of hard work — they will be able to enjoy their retirement without worrying about hitting the end of their savings. The changing economy has jeopardized all that. People across our province, particularly young people, are falling through the gaps in pension plan coverage. Just like Ontario Liberals led the way on enhancing the Canada Pension Plan, we’re going to open up pension plans to more people and make sure those plans follow people from job to job.”

—Premier Kathleen Wynne

Quick Facts

Ontario Liberals played a leading role securing an enhancement to the CPP so that it better meets the retirement savings needs of today's workers.

The maximum CPP enhancement benefit will increase approximately 50% from $13,370 per year to about $20,320

Two-thirds of Ontario’s workers do not participate in a workplace pension plan. About three-quarters of younger workers — aged 25 to 34 — do not participate in a workplace pension plan.

Of middle-income Canadian families without workplace pension plans, about half are not saving enough for retirement.